The magic of dreams
by Millie 1985
Summary: Modern day reincarnation fic. By day Gwen Thomas seem to be completely normal but in her dreams each night she is so much more. When her dreams begin to spill into her reality she begins to wonder was she really even normal at all.


Summary: Modern day reincarnation fic. By day Gwen Thomas is a normal girl, trying to survive life in a normal English college but when night falls her whole life changes. In her dreams she is far from normal, she is a woman fighting for love and the right to live in peace. Could her dreams really be more than just dreams, could Gwen and those nearest her really be meant for greatness?

Disclaimer: I don't own the TV show Merlin or any of its characters, the only thing that is mine is the idea

AN 1: Hi guys, I know I should be working on my other story Melinda right now and I am but this idea wouldn't leave me alone so here it is.

Chapter 1

Not many people can claim that waking up is one of the best parts of their day but for 18 year old Gwen Thomas it was always a relief. For the last two years she had been plagued by the strangest dreams, some of them were sweet and lovely but far more of them left her shaking with fear. The worst of it was she could never fully remember them when she woke up, the events were all clear to her but the people that populated her dreams became a mystery to her as soon as she opened her eyes.

Gwen slowly pulled herself out of bed and began dressing for the day ahead, she knew that if she didn't get a move on she would miss her chance of getting a lift to college with her brother and be forced to take the bus but today she couldn't bring herself to care. Last night's dream kept replaying itself in her head, something about it felt different from all of the others she'd had over the years. Something about this one was important; it almost felt like all of the others had been building up to this one.

"Gwen are you coming or not" her brother Elyan yelled from down stairs chasing all thoughts of her dream from Gwen's mind

"Yeah, I'm coming, just give me a minute" she yelled back grabbing her bag and last night's completed home work

"You have 30 seconds" Elyan countered

"If I'm late for Gwaine again he will kill me"

"We better get a move on then hadn't we?" Gwen retorted bustling passed Elyan who was stood in the front door way.

Sometimes Gwen wondered why she even wanted a lift from Elyan in the mornings, the bus would probably be less crowded than his car was.

This morning she found herself in the back seat squashed between two of her brother's best friends Lance and Percy because his other best friend Gwaine had dibbs on the front seat from the day before.

Gwen knew that most of the other girls at Camelot college thought she was either strange to spend most of her time with her brother and his friends or lucky that they would let her hang around with them.

Gwen hadn't always been so close to the boys, once she had been the very best of friends with Morgana Penn the queen bee of Camelot collage but a few years ago Ana had met her half sister Morgause for the first time and it hadn't taken her long to throw Gwen and their friendship aside. Her brother and his friends had been there for her when she needed them the most and now Gwen considered them all to be her dearest friends and as far as they were concerned she was just another one of the boys.

"Can you all get yourselves home tonight" Elyan asked his friends as they climbed out of the car

"Are you bailing on us?" Percy asked Elyan with a cheeky grin

"Elyan has a date?" Gwen told them quickly before Elyan could come up with an excuse

"It's not a date I'm just taking Vivian for coffee" Elyan protested

"Going out for coffee, just the two of you counts as a date" Lance told Elyan with a warm smile

"I told you so" Gwen crowed triumphantly at her brother

"Back to the point" Elyan instructed looking embarrassed

"Can you all get home without me?" he asked the assembled group

They all assured him they could before parting ways for the day.

Gwen walked the halls of Camelot college with her head held high; she knew she was not the most popular of girls, she never had been even when she was Ana's right hand girl but most people that knew her knew she was a real sweet heart.

"Good morning Gwen" a small dark haired girl greeted her

"Morning Freya" Gwen returned with a bright smile

Freya was the only girl that Gwen was really close to now that Ana had given up talking to her. Freya had moved to the area just after Ana dropped Gwen and just before the dreams had started, she was the only person Gwen had mentioned her dreams to.

"So anything new happening in dream land?" Freya asked timidly, she was a very shy girl even around Gwen

"It's actually kind of weird" Gwen told her friend

"The dream it's self was pretty normal but it felt different"

"Different how?" Freya asked eagerly

"I don't know really, it sort of felt like something I had been waiting for had finally happened" Gwen explained as best she could

"Well what happened?" Freya loved to hear all about Gwen's dreams even if she never got the whole story due to Gwen's patchy memory of them

"Well he was there again" Freya knew exactly who he was, the beautiful man that starred in most of Gwen's dreams and that Freya was sure she had a crush on

"I was watching him from a distance and at first he was just seemed to be playing around, he was teaching some other guy's how to throw knives. Then he went too far and started to throw them at some poor kid who couldn't protect himself" Gwen explained

"That's terrible" Freya gasped

"I know but someone stepped in, this scrawny guy he stopped him, he stood up to him no one has ever done that before" Gwen told her friend

"Do you think that was what you were waiting for?" Freya asked shrewdly

"I don't know maybe" Gwen sighed

"This is just getting so frustrating Freya, these dreams feel important and I they are but I just can't put it all together"

"Don't worry Gwen you will, I'm sure of it" Freya assured her with a knowing smile

Freya and Gwen had no way of knowing that their conversation had been over heard by two very influential and unhappy women. Morgana and Morgause couldn't believe what they had just witnessed; they had believed that they had everything and everyone under control until just moments ago.

"How is this possible? She has no magic, she cannot be dreaming of our past" Morgana whispered in astonishment

"She may not have magic but remember she has a connection to one that does, a connection that has endured for centuries" Morgause pointed out

"Merlin, I thought we got rid of him a lifetime ago" Morgana snarled

"He cannot get to her or any of the others but his magic can still reach out to them" Morgause explained

"If Gwen's dreams are being caused by his magic why is she the only one he is reaching?" Morgana asked

"Gwen has always possessed a pure heart I don't doubt that it makes her easier to connect with than the others" Morgause spat Gwen's name out as if it left a bad taste in her mouth

"What about Arthur?" Morgana asked softly

"What about him?" Morgause demanded

"There is no way Merlin's magic can have kept them both alive for so long, the once and future king is dead and this time he is not coming back we made sure of that. Don't worry sister this time we will go unchallenged and no dream of Gwen's will stop us" Morgause said doing her best to reassure Morgana but she was already planning how she could incapacitate Gwen if she had to

Unaware of the danger that her dreams had put her in Gwen went on with her day as she normally would. She attended all of her classes, ate lunch with Freya and seeing as she didn't have Elyan and the boys waiting for her she stayed late to study in the library, and by the time she left was getting dark.

Gwen knew she probably shouldn't walk alone but the route that she walked to get home wasn't a long one and the only part of it that was even relatively dimly lit was when she had to walk though the local park

Elyan was constantly telling her not to walk alone and the other guy's always backed him up. If Elyan couldn't pick her up in his car Percy, Gwaine or Lance would walk with her all she had to do was call them and Gwen knew that but just for once she wanted to be alone.

Gwen actually found her walk really peaceful and relaxing until she was half way through the park and almost home. In the centre of the park there stood a huge oak tree that had to be over a hundred years old and rumour had it that it was haunted.

Gwen had always loved the tree as a child but the older she got the more menacing it seemed to become. Normally Gwen would avoid the tree but something was different that night she found it was impossible for her to just hurry passed; something was calling to her and drawing her towards it.

As she slowly approached Gwen was shocked to discover that the tree was actually calling to her, a gentle voice was calling her name. Gwen had heard the stories of the tree talking to children and warning them of danger but she had never believed them

"You really do talk" she whispered, too shocked to worry about the fact that talking to a tree and expecting an answer was slightly crazy

"Only to special people, those who will really hear us" the tree replied

"Us? There are two of you?" Gwen questioned

"There was once but now there is just me, my friend fell asleep a long time ago" the voice was so sad that Gwen really wished that she could do something to make it feel better

"Can't you wake them?" she asked softly

"Him" the voice corrected

"And no I can't but maybe you can" the voice said hopefully, he (and Gwen was sure now that the voice was a he) sounded like a little boy at Christmas time

"Me? How can I wake him?" Gwen asked

"Just touch the bark, one touch from you is all it will take" he explained

"Why does it need to be me?" Gwen asked warily

"I can't tell you" the voice said sadly

"You will understand one day but I can't tell and even if I could we don't have time, you are just going to have to trust me Gwen"

For some reason that she wished she could explain Gwen truly believed that the tree she had feared for years meant her no harm so she reached out a tentative hand and slowly brushed her fingertips along the trees bark. A shudder seemed to ripple thought the tree as if it had been affected by a sudden cold breeze it lasted for only a moment and it stopped as quickly as it had started, for some reason the whole thing seemed a bit anticlimactic to Gwen.

"Did it work? Is your friend back?" she whispered to the tree

There was complete silence and for a moment Gwen thought she might have imagined the whole encounter but then a new voice filled the air around her, a warmer, deeper much more familiar voice.

"Guinevere?"

Gwen stumbled back in surprise breaking her connection to the tree

"How do you know that's my name? No one calls me that, not even my own father" she gasped out

"It's what I have always called you" the new voice assured her

"Does that bother you?" he asked

"Yes, I hate my name" She told him firmly

"Why?" the first voice asked her

"Would you like to be named after a treasonous, Queen who only brought pain and misery to her King by sleeping with his closest friend before bringing his Kingdom down about his ears" She demanded

There was such a long pause after she spoke that Gwen found herself wondering was it possible to offend a tree and when the voices finally did return they seemed to be talking to one another not her

"She doesn't remember" the deeper of the two voices said sadly

"Not yet, but she will, just give her time" the other reassured him

"Remember what?" Gwen asked cutting into their conversation

"I wish we could tell you Gwen, I really do" the original voice sighed

"But please know this" the second voice added

"Guinevere wasn't the down fall of Camelot; she was its greatest strength, a warrior Queen that was loved as much by her King as she was by her people. She never betrayed Arthur she helped to make him the King of legend but good Queens don't make for good stories so she was twisted into the woman you know of today"

He sounded so sincere that Gwen couldn't disbelieve him she was about to tell him so when the rustle of bushes and the snapping of twigs behind her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Gwen spun quickly to face the danger that she was sure was approaching only to find Morgana emerging from the trees

"Ana what are you doing here, you scared the life out of me" Gwen cried placing her hand over her racing heart.

"Good" Morgana sneered before walking slowly towards Gwen making her feel like some kind of hunted animal.

There was a cold and dangerous air about Morgana that Gwen had never seen before and it scared her much more than the tree ever had, she willed herself to run but her feet seemed frozen to the ground all she managed to do was stumble back against the tree trunk behind her

"Stay very still" the deep voice mumbled soothingly to her

"Don't move until I tell you, when I give the word run and don't look back" he ordered softly

"I can't hold her for long like this but I should be able to give Gwen a head start" the first voice told his friend

"That's all Guinevere will need" the deep voice said confidently

Gwen was beginning to think she had fallen asleep in the library and that her whole evening was in fact one of her crazy dreams. Her former best friend seemed to be intent on killing her and a talking tree with two voices was trying to protect her none of it could be real could it?

Well real or not Gwen felt the need to show some manners as Morgana crept closer to her

"Thank you who ever you are" she whispered desperately to the tree that she was pressed so tightly against

"My name is Arthur" the deep voice told her

"Now run" he ordered and despite her fear of Morgana Gwen found she couldn't disobey him, she was so busy running for her life that she didn't see a beam of golden light coming from one of the tree branches and wrapping it's self around Morgana like a cage

Morgana watched helplessly as Gwen raced out of the deserted park and onto the busy city streets where she was safe at least for now. As soon a Gwen was out of sight the magical light holding her in place disappeared too.

"You may have saved her tonight Merlin but you can't always protect her from us" She hissed at the tree

"You so much as lay a hand on her Morgana and I swear you will pay with your life" came the angry response from the tree

Morgana couldn't help but laugh she had expected some kind of snappy come back from Merlin but it wasn't Merlin that answered her it was Arthur

"Well, well, well," she teased

"So you are still alive in there Arthur, you surprise me it's not a pleasant surprise but a surprise none the less" she chuckled darkly

"Haven't you learnt yet Morgana you're never going to win, how many failed attempts and lost lives will it take you to see that" Merlin asked her desperately

"I'm not going to fail again Merlin, this time we are going to win Gwen is the only one with any memories at all and she will be dead soon. Once she is gone no one else will ever remember, no one will ever come looking for you and one day this old tree will be torn down and you will be destroyed along with it, it's over we've won" she told then with a sneer

Arthur had never felt so helpless in all his life, Guinevere was in danger and he had no way to help her, not even Merlin could help her from here. He could only watch a pray that the warrior Queen of Camelot regained the memories of her true self in time to save them all

Hay again Guy's I would really like to know what you think as this is a bit different from anything I have ever written before.

Thanks for reading

Millie


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